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Transfer Market (Part 41)
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- May 4, 2023
- 6 min read
Have a transfer tip? Send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com and we'll look into it.
NOTE: The Stride Report is aware that there are multiple athletes who have announced their transfers who are not mentioned in this article. Those athletes will be highlighted in a future Transfer Market piece. The Stride Report is also aware that there are multiple top-caliber names currently in the transfer portal. However, out of respect for athlete privacy, TSR will not report on certain transfer portal entries until official decisions are established, commitments are made public or approvals of publishing are granted.
Rylee Penn (Transfer Portal)
The Stride Report has confirmed that Rylee Penn has entered the transfer portal as a future graduate student. She is expected to hold one season of cross country eligibility and one season of outdoor track eligibility.
Few women have had the breakout year that Penn has had. The Cincinnati star has made a nearly unheard of leap in fitness over the last five months, cutting down her personal bests by dramatic amounts of time.
This past winter, Penn entered the indoor track season with a mile PR of 5:04. However, she would eventually leave the indoor oval with a new PR 4:34, a whopping 30-second improvement. The Bearcat ace had also never contested the 3000 meters before, but ended her winter campaign with a 9:12 personal best for that distance.
Of course, Penn didn't limit her progression to the indoor track season. Earlier this spring, the Cincinnati veteran dropped an insane 1500 meter time of 4:10 at the Raleigh Relays, finishing runner-up against a loaded field of established stars. That was a 23-second improvement from her prior personal best.
Then, just this past weekend, the soon-to-be graduate transfer threw down a phenomenal 800 meter mark of 2:01.90, a seasonal best by over three-and-a-half seconds.
Few women in the NCAA have greater momentum than Penn does right now -- and the craziest part is that we don't know if she has even found her ceiling yet! Despite her mammoth progression, there have been very few signs to suggest that this Cincinnati standout can't improve even further over the next month and a half.
The California native was actually a highly accomplished high school middle distance talent before graduating in 2018, holding prep marks of 2:07 (800) and 4:58 (1600). Of course, the nature of Penn's resume has changed significantly since then.
While I sound like a broken record, Penn's hometown of Corona, California is only an hour drive from (you guessed it), Los Angeles (more specifically, UCLA). And as we all know, Coach Sean Brosnan has been incredibly active in the transfer portal as of late, recently landing mile-centric studs such as Mia Barnett, Sam McDonnell and Dalia Frias.
Given Penn's middle distance lean, specifically towards the mile/1500 meters, her skillset would theoretically make her a perfect fit for this up-and-coming distance program.
Of course, at some point, there will have to be a limit as to how many scholarship-worthy names Brosnan can add to his roster. Not only that, but Penn is an older collegiate talent, meaning that her impact would only be felt over the short-term whereas Barnett, McDonnell and Frias all have numerous years of eligibility remaining.
But what about her other options? In my eyes, a program like Oregon would be yet another outstanding choice if she wants to return to the west coast.
The Ducks have been thriving on the oval this year, specifically in mile. Izzy Thornton-Bott and Klaudia Kazimierska have evolved into one of the best 1-2 punches for that distance and Maddy Elmore has shown tremendous promise as well.
Not only that, but Penn's ability to be a nationally competitive talent over 800 meters would be a massive help for an Oregon roster that is significantly lacking upper-tier firepower over the half-mile distance.
And while the current Bearcat runner isn't necessarily the greatest cross country runner ever, her 30th place finish at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships this past fall holds value.
If Penn continues to develop, and she seemingly will, then maybe this future graduate transfer could find herself offering depth to Oregon's cross country lineup come October and November.
Joe dosReis (Davidson to Wisconsin)
Two weeks ago, Davidson ace Joe dosReis announced that he will be transferring to Wisconsin later this fall as a graduate student. He is expected to hold two seasons of cross country eligibility, two seasons of indoor track eligibility and one season of outdoor track eligibility.
Over the last year, dosReis has slowly evolved into a competitive name on the east coast, flexing very solid middle distance credentials. And so far, his 2023 outdoor track campaign has been his best season yet.
The Davidson veteran first began to show signs of competitive promise when he ran 1:49 for 800 meters in the spring of 2022. And since then, dosReis has run 1:49 for that distance three more times, once on the indoor oval and twice on the outdoor oval (recently posting a new personal best of 1:49.04).
In that same 2022 outdoor track season, he ran 3:42 for 1500 meters and qualified for East Regional Championships in that event.
However, dosReis would take another step upwards in 2023. He became the first man in Davidson's program history to produce a sub-four minute mile with a 3:58.34 PR before recently running 3:40 for 1500 meters just two weekends ago.
With two years of eligibility still remaining, the sky seems to be the limit for a guy who is only now beginning to realize his true potential. And while we may often label Wisconsin as a long distance-centric program, their recent development of top milers bodes well for someone like dosReis.
Admittedly, this current Davidson veteran doesn't necessarily have the cross country accolades that could make him a major factor on the grass this fall. But given the success of mile-centric stars like Ollie Hoare and Adam Spencer in recent years, as well as a handful of other sub-four minute milers, dosReis should fit in nicely with the Badgers.
Star talents on Wisconsin's roster such as Spencer, Jackson Sharp and Bob Liking still have at least one more year of eligibility after this spring, meaning that dosReis could add to an already-loaded distance roster throughout 2024.
And if the Davidson talent can continue to improve, then his utility for an event like the DMR could prove to be massively valuable, at least as far as lineup flexibility for championship meets is concerned.
Perri Bockrath (Transfer Portal)
The Stride Report has confirmed that Perri Bockrath has entered the transfer portal as a future graduate student. She is expected to have one season of indoor track eligibility and one season of outdoor track eligibility remaining. According to one source, Bockrath has already come to a decision as to where she'll be attending school next year.
Over the last year or two, this Kentucky veteran has been flat-out excellent, and maybe even underrated on a handful of occasions.
Bockrath first came on to our radar during the fall of 2021. The Wildcat runner had finished 13th at the SEC XC Championships, 9th at the Southeast Regional XC Championships and then 111th at the NCAA XC Championships.
Fast forward to the spring of 2022, and Bockrath peaked perfectly, running 9:52 in the steeplechase at the East Regional Championships. That effort ultimately allowed her to qualify for the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring.
However, it was the most recent cross country season, the fall of 2022, where Bockrath truly showcased her incredible scoring value.
The Kentucky standout won the North Alabama Showcase over Hilda Olemomoi and teammate Tori Herman, placed 8th overall at the loaded Cowboy Jamboree, was victorious at the Panorama Farms Invitational, finished 6th at the SEC XC Championships and placed 9th at the Southeast Regional XC Championships.
Yes, Bockrath did falter to 118th place at the NCAA XC Championships, but the Kentucky star proved that she was one of the best women in the nation on the grass. She was ranked as high as TSR #30 this past fall and ended the season at TSR #44 in our top-50 individual rankings.
Despite her incredible cross country results, those series of performances are there to show you how talented she is. Unfortunately, as we mentioned above, she has no eligibility remaining on the grass.
However, owning a 9:52 steeplechase PR and then having a breakout cross country season suggests that, at her best, Bockrath can be a very dangerous name on the oval -- even more so than she has already proven to be.
But since November, Bockrath hasn't raced, largely due to personal challenges which she detailed in an Instagram post back in January.
Since then, Bockrath has ventured to Seattle, potentially giving us a hint as to where she could land next. And based on general knowledge, the most obvious transfer destination for this former Kentucky star would be the University of Washington.
The Huskies are a well-established distance running power on the west coast (based in Seattle) and they are no strangers to bringing in top transfers. In fact, Coach Maurica Powell added Kayley DeLay, a 9:25 steeplechase silver medalist from the 2022 outdoor national meet, to her roster last summer.
And once DeLay finishes her eligibility in Seattle, the Washington women could be looking for a new steeplechase ace to lean on and rally around -- a position that seems destined for Bockrath to fill.
